Mayor's former assistant gets probation

Updated 10:47 pm, Monday, July 29, 2013

DANBURY -- The mayor's former executive assistant has voluntarily withdrawn several claims against the city after accepting a special form of probation in connection with health-insurance fraud.

Among the claims Wendy DaCosta withdrew was a claim that she was arrested on felony charges in January in retaliation for her lawsuit against the city that claimed she was unjustly fired from her position in August 2011.

The city, however, asserted that DaCosta had kept her ex-husband on her city-sponsored health insurance plan well after the couple divorced.

Earlier this month, DaCosta was given accelerated rehabilitation, a special form of probation available to first-time offenders. The charges, including health-insurance fraud and second-degree larceny, would be dismissed in a year if she successfully completes the program. DaCosta is required to make restitution to the city of an undisclosed amount.

Attorney Jeff Jowdy, who represents DaCosta in the criminal case, said he believes it was a fair resolution to the charges, and court officials were instrumental in getting the parties from the criminal and the civil complaints together "to allow this disposition to happen."

Michael Rose, an attorney defending the city against the lawsuit, said the court required DaCosta to withdraw several aspects of the complaint as part of the resolution to her criminal case.

DaCosta withdrew allegations that the city violated her civil rights by firing her shortly after she applied for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, claiming she needed to address a substance-abuse issue.

City officials, however, maintained that DaCosta's termination was in the works prior to the request.

DaCosta was fired, city officials have said, after several harassment complaints had been lodged against her by a department head with whom DaCosta had a brief relationship.

In her lawsuit, DaCosta continues to claim she was treated differently than other employees, including by Boughton, who she said had been the subject of harassment complaints.

Boughton, however, has denied that a harassment complaint had ever been filed against him, and no such complaint has been produced by DaCosta.

"At the end of the day, what happened to this employee (DaCosta) was completely appropriate," Rose said. "As time goes on, those involved, including the mayor, will be exonerated."

Elisabeth Maurer, an attorney representing DaCosta in the civil matter, could not be reached for comment Monday.

Several depositions, including those of Boughton and the city's former human resources director, Carol DeSantie, will be held next month as part of the lawsuit.